Start of Something New

We go through many cycles in life.
Of schedules, work, school, friends.
Everything in life seems to always change.
I have found this is especially true in college. It seems like you just start to fit in, to finally find that one thing you're really good at and then it's time to move on to the next cycle in life.
Today was IWU's graduation ceremony and it was the first time in my life that this whole thing hit me. I realized that in a year, it will be me graduating. I'll be moving on to the next cycle and will be leaving behind some absolutely incredible people.
So - I am making a new year's resolution five months in to the new year.
For the next 12 months, I'm going to live intentionally. I'm going to make the most of every relationship in my life. God places people in your life for a reason, and I've realized that I need to get past my own insecurities and live in the moment. I need to embrace relationships and not turn away from them. I need to be accepting and not discouraging. I need to be loving and not judging. I need to be more Christ-like and not so self-centered.

This is the start of something exciting...something maybe just a little scary but something far greater than myself.

Pure Thankfulness

When I look around at everything that I have been blessed with, I have no other option but to be thankful.

Every trial that I have been handed, God has pulled me through.

Sure, I’ve had my moments when I couldn’t see the light and I questioned it all.

But, He was faithful.

With all that God has done for me, for my family, for my life, how could I not be grateful?

When I walk around campus and see God’s Creation, how can I not be joyful?

The answer is simple…I can’t possibly have anything but pure thankfulness and gratitude to my King, my Savior, my everything.

Just Breathe

I very seldom take the time to just breathe.

To sit

To relax

To pray

To just be.

I get so caught up in life.

All of these things going on around me.

The projects. The events. The tragedies.

But I have recently found that if I just take time and just inhale a deep breath

and then exhale, that a lot of things just do not seem to matter anymore.

The deadlines. The heartbreaks. The chaos. All of it is gone and I am, for once,

still, in the presence of God. The Almighty Creator.

And in this stillness, I am actually at peace. No more worries, no more questions.

Everything in my world is calm for just that moment.

It is such a refreshing thing. To just be calm and refocus on God.

So as we start a new week, I challenge you to just take the time and just breathe.

Road Trip

Life is a journey.

A long, complex, and interesting journey.

Full of ups and many, many downs.

But in order to reach our final destination, we have to go through all of those windy turns, all of those hills that seem like they are impossible to cross. It’s all part of it.

And through those bumps in the roads, through the breakdowns, through it all…we are learning. Learning how to dodge the next road block, learning the quickest detour.  It’s a growing process.

Sure we might get a few scratches and dints along the way, and those little scratches might hurt for a little while, but they are really just making you tougher, making you wiser.

Making you more and more into the person that you were created to be.

It’s all going to be worth it. One day, we’ll reach our destination and it will all be worth it.